Dead bodies of two Indians lying in Saudi mortuary for weeks

Jeddah: The dead bodies of two Indians who lost their lives in Riyadh are lying in a Saudi mortuary for weeks because their former employer are not ready to give the cost of transporting them to India.

Jaswinder Singh (56), from Kapurthala district in Punjab, died on February 21. Ponnam Satyanarayana (48), from Jagtial district in Telangana, passed away on March 11.

Since then, their mortal remains are in Riyadh, the Saudi Gazette reported on Tuesday. Both used to work for a now defunct construction company.

The company where the men used to work is not ready to bear the embalming and cargo charges.

The chemical embalming of coffin box is mandatory under the International Air Transport Association (IATA) rules.

“Without salary for over a year and half, penny less, we are passing through extremely difficult times and the tragic death of our colleagues have saddened us,” colleagues of the deceased men told Saudi Gazette.

“We have spent long years in the company of each other; in bad and good times. We were … like brothers. Contributing some amount for repatriation is not a matter for us but we have no money,” they said.